EGU Early Career Award for Ricarda Winkelmann

04/27/2017 - Ricarda Winkelmann from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) was honored with the Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award by the European Geosciences Union. She received the award in the Division Cryosphere “for her innovative contributions to glaciology and the study of the interactions between climate and glaciation”. Winkelmann is Junior Professor of Climate System Analysis at Potsdam University and scientist at PIK's research domain Earth System Analysis.

Outstanding Early Career Scientist Awardee in the Division Cryosphere: Ricarda Winkelmann

"The research of Ricarda Winkelmann has focused on the role of the cryosphere in the climate system and the future climate impacts of large ice masses on a global scale," the jury motivation reads. "Winkelmann has been instrumental in the development of the Potsdam Parallel Ice Sheet model, done theoretical work on the relationships between climate and glaciation, and studied the impact of large ice masses on global sea level change. Her papers are a testament to her exceptional clarity of thought and physical insight. She has studied and quantified the impact of global warming on the Antarctic Ice Sheet, for example, showing that future combustion of available fossil fuel resources will cause the sheet to fully melt. Winkelmann has also shown how future increase in snowfall over Antarctica will lead to increased ice discharge into the oceans, countering an otherwise negative contribution to global sea level change."

The annual EGU General Assembly brings together some 11,000 geoscientists from all over the world into one meeting covering all disciplines of the earth, planetary and space sciences. The Assembly’s sessions cover a wide range of topics from volcanology and planetary exploration to the earth’s internal structure and atmosphere, to climate and energy. Numerous PIK scientists are attending the meeting, among them PIK Research Domain Chairs Stefan Rahmstorf, Anders Levermann and others.